Manipur Election Candidate-wise Results: Okram Ibobi Singh, Abdul Nasir secure huge wins for Congress

On Saturday, the results for Manipur Assembly Election 2017 were announced and Congress secured 28 seats, Bharatiya janta Party (BJP) secured 21 seats, and other parties like National People’s Party, Naga People’s Front (NPF), etc secured 11 seats.

To form a government, each party needs 31 seats.

Here is a list of the key candidates who were in the fray:

Okram Ibobi Singh: Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s reign has been marked by insurgency and turmoil. Running for his fourth consecutive term, Singh has been ruling the state since 2002, a feat made especially impressive considering that Manipur chief ministers usually do not serve out their full terms.

His first foray into politics took place in 1984 as an independent candidate from the Khangabok Assembly constituency after which he joined the Congress. In 1990, he won re-election from Khangabok on a Congress ticket and took up a position as the minister in-charge of municipal administration, housing and urban development in the RK Dorendo government. He has been a Congress stalwart ever since. He is running from Thoubal constituency.

Okram Surajkumar: Okram Surajkumar, who will be making his debut into politics, has an economics degree from London’s Kingston University, is a polo player and a state-level badminton champion.

The 29-year-old has claimed he had no political ambitions until recently, and said he felt compelled to run for office after witnessing the difficulties faced by the underprivileged in his district.

Surajkumar, the youngest candidate in the state’s history to fight Assembly elections, has stated that he would focus on digitisation for the northeast state if elected.

Irom Sharmila: The Iron Lady of Manipur shocked many political observers by giving up her 16-year fast against the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (Afspa), and decided to enter politics. She took on chief minister in his own den — Thoubal constituency — only time will tell if this is a masterstroke or a blunder. Sharmila’s popularity in the state could have won her a lot of support, however, her decision to end her hunger strike in 2016 turned a lot of people against her. She is also not viewed as a serious career politician by the people of Manipur.

Th Chouba Singh, former Union Minister: Th Chouba Singh is the front runner in BJP’s chief ministerial race, for his credentials as the former Union Minister in the previous NDA regime under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was also the president of the state chapter of the BJP till May 2015, when he was replaced by Ksh Bhabananda Singh. Chouba Singh was given the role of convenor of election management committee.

Erendro Leichombam: Trained in Economics at the Soka University of America and in Mathematics at the University of California, Irvine, this 33-year-old Manipuri man refused to live the life of an NRI. He decided to take the plunge into politics after being inspired by Irom Sharmila’s fight against Afspa and joined PRJA. The former World Bank Fellow has also served in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Yumkham Erabot Singh: Y Erabot Singh has been a six-time MLA from the Congress party and a minister in the state government equal number of times. Erabot Singh, whose politics revolves around the Meitei nationalism, was seen as an arch critique of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

N Biren Singh: Nongthongbam Biren Singh won an MLA seat from Heingang constituency for three consecutive terms. He became an MLA in 2002 from Democratic People’s Republic Party. Later, he joined Congress. Before appearing as a politician in Manipur, he was a footballer and served at BSF Jalandhar football team. He also had a stint as a journalist in a newspaper.After being elected as the MLA, he became minister of state (Independent Charge) and later on a cabinet minister.

TN Haokip: TN Haokip was appointed as Manipur Congress unit president by Sonia Gandhi in 2016. He is a sitting MLA from Saikot and the Congress is relying on him to carry the constituency.